PlayStation will not be in attendance for Gamescom 2022. German publication Games Wirtschaft announced the news (thanks GamesIndustry) and confirmed with Sony that it'll be missing the Cologne event this year and that it also won't have any announcements in the Opening Night Live.
Previously, Take-Two and Nintendo had announced they wouldn't be attending Gamescom either.
Nintendo had sent a statement to Games Wirtschaft earlier this month, saying: "After careful consideration, we have decided against participating in Cologne", and that it would be involved with regional events across Gernmany instead.
Gamescom 2022 is due to be held from August 24 to 28 and will be the first physical event since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Gamescom 2022 will still have digital events too for those unable to make it to the show in person.
"We're confident Gamescom will be the biggest games event in the world again, but not on the scale of 2019. We're not going for the next record, we'll be limiting some ticket sales, but the final number is dependent on the coming months and the flexibility we have", Felix Falk, the co-organiser of the event told GamesIndustry back in March.
"The challenge this year is to combine the two aspects: what we learned from the digital side and what we extended and developed in the last few years of having everything on-site. We have a lot of people that have never been to a physical Gamescom, but have partnered with us in the last two years. We have the opportunity for pure digital participation in Gamescom this year, but of course the core of what happens is always connected to an on-site activity."
This year's show will also be stepping up its climate change commitments. These will include further promotion of the free tickets for public transportation during the show, encouraging exhibitors to donate to certified climate offset projects based on their expo stand size, and a continuation of sales of the optional 'green ticket' which raises money for a reforestation project in the German countryside.